General Coach Candidate News

[Hoosierfan1901 6,928]

TJ Ball, yes please

[Solsberryberries 81]

Unpopular to “meh” coaches with the IU fanbase that I think would fit here: (I’ve had to take myself to this mental space because I can’t hold out for Stevens)

-Alford

-Brownell

-Fife

-McCollum

-McCasslin

-McDermott

As people, I think they would do well with the IU fanbase and the Bloomington community.

[Trish 12,610]

23 minutes ago, tyappleg said:

I've watched 2 minutes of TJ Otz on the sideline today and he is a big pant/belt adjuster.  But he is the opposite of Crean, because his clothes are 2 sizes too small rather than 2 sizes too big. 

Yep not good enough then. 
 

Stevens, Pearl, or Beard. 

[Hovadipo 59,071]

32 minutes ago, JPCIVOP said:

If we're getting all the way to taking Brad Brownell seriously, I'd say you just hire Schertz from SLU. Him winning like he did with Indiana State was more impressive than anything Brownell's done. 

Your Schertz Squad membership card is in the mail. 

[woodenshoemanHoosierfan 6,470]

3 hours ago, jimsorgi said:

 

Great album

[VFury 263]

People can't use Brad and Dusty for clicks anymore so they've moved on to the next big name. Now it's Otzelberger's turn to generate attention before saying he's not interested.

[Demo 21,534]

48 minutes ago, Truthhurts said:

Fans significantly overestimate the magnitude of their teams’ pull on coaches, and IU is guiltier of it than any fan base.  Hard to disagree with a word of this piece, other than I prefer Ben over Brad B
 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/dan-wolken/2025/02/22/indiana-basketball-coach-purdue/79441554007/

Actually, other than his most basic premise that a solid guy would do well here, a point USPS makes all the time and I agree with, I think the rest of the article is utter, lazy trash. Including, but not limited to: 1) If you have the resources to reach out to demonstrated elite guys and you don’t that is objectively irresponsible. UK and UL didn’t start with Pope and Kelsey, we know those weren’t their 1st choices, they finished there. And comparing an IU hiring process to Vandy is simply stupid. 2) Other than Stevens, and not reaching out to him would be a straight failure of due diligence, what were the other failed home run hires that resulted in Crean, Miller and Woodson?The Crean process was somewhat elongated because it was such a mess. But the others were perfectly normal and there is literally no evidence at all that either of those hires was the result of wasting time on some unattainable name candidate. Those hires were unsuccessful for completely different reasons. As a matter of fact, the argument he makes here was the exact argument for Archie and I guarantee he was down with that hire at the time. 3) Every fanbase wants a name they know. Every one. Every time. No exceptions. This fanbase is not unique. 4) Brownell was a terrible choice to make his point because he’s a replacement-level coach and they can absolutely do better. So he would be justifiably disappointing. 

[JPCIVOP 102]

1 hour ago, Truthhurts said:

It’s not gonna be Brad. Dusty, via his extension, just turned it down.  Drew turned down UK, so he’s not coming to IU. TJ’s buyout is likely insane. Fans (wrongly) ptobably can’t be sold on Ben M. Beard would be too big of a - ahem - black eye on the university. 
 

Sooooo …criticize all you want, but serious question, why *wouldnt* Brad B be a serious candidate?  Who else exactly is there, realistically, outside of Brad B and Cronin? 

Went back and looked at my list. Even taking away candidates one might call unrealistic, you're still left with the following coaches who are, IMO, ahead of Brownell. Think even Alford is well ahead of Brownell.

 

11. Rick Pitino (Think he would listen. I'd be willing to make Jr. the coach-in-waiting)

 

17. Josh Schertz

 

21. Eric Musselman

22. Buzz Williams

23. Steve Alford

24. Will Wade

25. Chris Jans

26. Shaka Smart

27. Greg McDermott

28. Darian DeVries

 

29. Dennis Gates

30. Chris Collins

[HoosierTrav 8,071]

1 hour ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

Because we have 20+ years of data on Cronin while McCollum has less than a year of D1 experience under his belt. Maybe he’s becomes a great coach, but why take that risk if Cronin is on the table? At the very least Cronin gets us to the tournament each year which would be a big step in getting IU out of laughingstock territory. 

What are the chances that McCollum somehow stops being elite by going to Indiana? With Indiana’s resources, they can easily provide him with a staff and budget to win right away. 
 

We are taking a chance with this hire no matter what. I’m sorry but the Stevens, May, Drew's, and Self’s aren’t walking through this door. They just aren’t. Neither is Otz. Why? They have everything they need to win championships and make lifechanging money. 

Everyone keeps harping about a “proven coach”…. 
Ben MCollum is 418-94 in his career! 32 wins and 7 losses in TOURNAMENT GAMES!!! People questioned how he would translate to D1….. he’s 24-3 in his 1st season with his D2 guys… the guy can flat out coach. He’s not Archie Miller.

who are the realistic “proven guys”? They’re Beard & Cronin….. we won’t hire beard. 

Water always finds it level and none of these guys are going to somehow become elite by having the Indiana job. If that was the case, then what happened with Tom Crean, Archie Miller, and Mike Woodson? 
 

I’ll take the guy who has proven himself to be elite, at multiple levels. Been a long time since Indiana has had a weapon roaming the sidelines. 

[hoosierdogg 3,278]

42 minutes ago, theriverpilot said:

Either way, I would like the next IU coach to have a full set of eyebrows. :-)

 

[IUHAHN81 2,836]

There's still only one train I'm riding till I'm forced off of it and that's the Stevens train. Period! 

[IUguy77 283]

2 minutes ago, IUHAHN81 said:

There's still only one train I'm riding till I'm forced off of it and that's the Stevens train. Period! 

Well according to Trillys discord there’s some plane activity they are tracking and Stevens was just spotted in Philly. 

[IUBtown 65]

41 minutes ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

And how much will it cost to buy McCollum out four years from now if he can’t cut it in the Big 10? If we’re at the point where hiring a McCollum or a Brownell is even an option then IU should shut the basketball program down entirely and give everything to football. 

Similar to what it'd cost to fire Cronin. 

[woodenshoemanHoosierfan 6,470]

1 hour ago, IUBtown said:

 looks of a leprechaun. 

So ugly coaches are out? I guess the red nose coach from Ole Miss out

[IUBtown 65]

6 minutes ago, woodenshoemanHoosierfan said:

So ugly coaches are out? I guess the red nose coach from Ole Miss out

it would go well with the candy stripe warmups. 

[woodenshoemanHoosierfan 6,470]

My last Beard post

I do not think he is coming because of the incident. I think if he was just an alcoholic, he would seriously be considered. If he is hired, to me, that means SD, the BoT, and Whitten were ok hiring him. That would be good enough for me.

Only time will tell

[Tasmanian Devil 1,772]

Ok, just caught up on 15 pages at a Buccee’s in north Georgia while traveling back to Indiana. Pretty funny stuff (especially JFK Assassination. Btw, read MORTAL ERROR if you really want to know what happened).

But I digress . . .

One thing seems pretty clear to me. If you take a step back and look at everything that has occurred so far, it only makes sense that Dolson has his guy lined up. If he didn’t, why would he have gotten Woodson out already instead of waiting till the end of the year?
You only do that if you know who your guy is going to be. And it has to be someone who is not currently coaching. I mean, would you want to have a coach coming here that wasn’t completely focused on his team all the time? 
Everything seems to be pointing to Brad Stevens, but could it be somebody else that we’ve never talked about or has been talked about very little? Such as Jay Wright?
Too much of this tells me that it has to be Dolson‘s done his homework and is getting the guy that he wants. Occam’s razor. I feel good that we’re getting somebody that can really turn this program around, but damn do I hate waiting for him to be announced.

[Jet812 105]

16 minutes ago, IUguy77 said:

Well according to Trillys discord there’s some plane activity they are tracking and Stevens was just spotted in Philly. 

This group is really slacking!  Who’s in charge of plane tracking here? /s

[Tasmanian Devil 1,772]

4 hours ago, woodenshoemanHoosierfan said:

I don't think I can post my favorite line from that movie. It was said by a kid to his dad watching a commercial.  If you know, you know!

My favorite part is Toby the dog waking up the guy with the welding torch.
 

[Hornsby 3,065]

Don’t underestimate IU’s ability to f**k up a vitally important basketball hire. 

100% correct. They have proven time and time again to mess up hires.

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